ah, feeling much better even after spending all day yesterday doing tires. We had spent half of the day before waiting for tires but only one came in. yesterday the other three finally came in. they turned out to not be exactly what we ordered but they were close enough that we are on new rubber now. In my case the front tire that came was a tube type so I now have a tube in the front and in both cases the rear tire is just a smidgen smaller than we wanted, 130-70-17 rather than the 130-80-17 that is recommended for our bikes. I don’t think it will make much difference other than the speedo’s are going to be off a little. The front tire is dual sport and the rear is more a street type but we have many miles of pavement to run now and they should do us just fine. We will be both carrying two spares and extra tubes.
The tire changing process down here at the little Honda shop was done out in the street as there was no room back in the shop. I had to go back in the shop to take a piss and wash my hands and found it about 12x12 and full of dirty bikes, oil soaked floor and very few tools. It was a real test of balance to get back into the washroom where there was an almost black never washed toilet and no soap at the cold-water sink.
The boys brought out there tire tools which consisted of two pieces of ½” rebar that had been ground down on one end. Fortunately we had our own tire tools there and we both finally had to take over the tire changing operation ourselves. They must have pinched Jim’s tube because when we were all paid up and shaken hands and said good bys, I took off and noticed that Jim was not behind me. It turns out that his front tire was flat. He thought that he had pumped it up when it was done but couldn’t remember for sure. They took the tire off and took it down to a tire shop and put it in a tank of water and after airing it up found no leaks, so they came back and put it on and sent us away again. after we got back to the hotel, Jim worked on repacking his tools and arranging things in his panniers. I went up and took a little nap. Soon Jim came up and I asked how things were going and he said the tire was flat again. We went back down and took the tire off the bike and put a new tube in it. We didn’t blow up the tube but I am sure that we will find a pinch from one of those rebar tire irons in it somewhere.
We met some Venezuelan guys art the shop. The mechanic had a transalp on its side out in the street and proceeded to take the right side of the bike apart. Evidently there was a noise coming from the clutch and they took the side of the motor off and had all that oily clutch stuff out with cars and trucks going by. I sure wouldn’t want my motor opened up out on the street. They were really nice guys and the one that spoke good English gave us his email and telephone number in case we came to Venezuela or need something. These people we meet down here are just that way. There have been several Argentinean people at the hotel that have been very nice to us and everyone is always interested in where we are going and where we have been.
It started raining last night and continued this morning. We got up late for us and went over to a nice little restaurant above the square. When we finally got out of there it had slowed down to a slow mist. I decided that it was slow enough for me to do a valve adjustment on the bike. It had not been idling well at the high elevations and I know my R90 runs poorly when the valves need adjusting. I found the valves in pretty good shape but had to open one intake valve a little as it was tight. I changed the oil and was in the process of starting on the oil filter when it started to rain again. dang….. I will have to change that filter on the road soon. It wasn’t a good place to change it here anyway because when I do it I get oil all over as I remember I did at Frazier’s when I changed it there. He almost threw me and my bike out in the alley when I got oil on his patio.
I took a walk around town this afternoon after a nice nap. I was lucky enough to find the gate open to one of the convents that they are restoring because there were some tours that were going through. I think you have to pay to go on one of these tours to get in there but I figured no one would notice a big Santa clause wandering through at the same time. Everyone seems to avoid me for some reason. It was fantastic and I followed a couple of guys that were able to get one of the guides to open a small door to allow us into the main chapel. Wow, this was not that large but the details and quality were some of the finest I have seen. Both Jim and I went into the big church on the central and it was the best and most elaborate church I have ever seen. The wood carving all painted in gold and the detail of the carvings were incredible. Behind the main alter we found this wall with wood carvings all the way to the ceiling with detail I cant even begin to describe. I read in my tour guide that it was a great example of Andean wood carving, so I guess the Spanish must have made them carve it for the church as it sure wasn’t Andean. The tour book also said that the town is built on the remains of an Andean city and many of the buildings are built on the rock foundations of their old city. It says that their rock work it unexcelled in the world and after walking around town I certainly believe it. I never did make it to the Andean ruins around here mostly because of my health but now I feel better and wish I had felt better.
We went to the Norton bar last night and visited with Jeff again. I really like the lemonade that they make there. I was bitching about not bringing my camera along so I could take a photo of his Norton that he has parked downstairs because it is so classic with the oil slick under it. Jim finally convinced me to go back in the rain and get the camera so I could take a picture of it.
Norton X
I also got a photo of Jeff pointing to the sticker he put on the glass behind the bar. I only have a few left and figured that this is one of the best places that I could put one.
Jeff X
I had the camera with me again this morning and took this photo of a couple of neat iron locks that were on one of the doors on the main square. They sure do look like they are really old ones but they may be new ones built like the old ones.
Locks X
I have been really missing a lot of neat doorknockers while walking around with out the camera but I guess that’s the way it goes. There are huge ones about ten feet up on the doors of the cathedrals and a variety of different ones on many of the doors in this old section of town.
Last night I found Jim at a restaurant and Internet place over the central. He hadn’t ordered yet and when I told him that I had found the pizza place that Anna had told me about with the pizza oven he wanted to go with me. It was really cool place. It was still fairly early so we were the only ones eating. They have this dome adobe oven with a fire in it and the guy made our pizza while we watched. One guy went out and brought over a pineapple and proceeded to cut it up for our Hawaiian pizza we ordered. I wonder how many other pizza places cut up a fresh pineapple for pizzas. It sure made a difference in the taste too. I have been getting fresh pineapple juice for breakfast too or some times mango or guava and it is sure good and nothing like what you get up north.